Speaking of Renoise (aka Mother of All Renoise Threads)
mudpeople
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Posted : May 14, 2011 10:16:32
So since Renoise has come up in other threads and Ive used Renoise and other trackers for many years, it seems like a good time to start a Mother of All thread. (Yay my first MoA thread )
So, first let me say for anyone asking, 'what the eff are you talking about, what is Renoise?', check www.renoise.com. If its interesting to you get the demo, the only limitations are no rendering, no ASIO, and no spiffy splash screen with your name on it.
OK. If you're still reading I assume you know what Renoise is or at least know OF it. So I'll skip the introduction into Renoise and get straight to pertinent information about how I personally use it. (*due to the many styles of interface Renoise offers, there are other ways of doing the things described, these are just my own way and I make no claims that they are the best, most effective, intuitive, or rational in any way.)
Ill be assuming that one is at least familiar with the GUI enough to play a track, switch between screens, and has at least a general idea where to enter note data. For those still clueless I refer you again to www.renoise.com
So for starters, the pattern. The default is 64 lines, at 4 lines-per-beat (LPB). For my purposes, I use 256 line patterns with 8 LPB, which yields a 4/4 pattern of 8 bars, with each line a 32nd note. For 64th note lines, obviously you'll want a 512 line pattern with 16 LPB. Ive tried using that outline, and find it to be more awkward than its worth, but it could be mroe useful to set it up with 64ths if one wants more fine control of note-offs. Ive never had use for that fine of control, anything that needs to be less than a 32nd, or like my bass, slightly less than a 16th note, I either tweak the volume envelope in the sample editor, or tweak the vst ADSR.
Which brings me to wonderful Renoise sample editor! I find it to be quite a bit more intuitive and straightforward than other DAWs. Drag/drop, Windows cut/paste hotkeys, ctrl-t trimming, loop options the same as FastTracker2, up/downsampling in the context menu, fade in/out, normalize, amplify with a click... Not only that but Renoise comes packaged with raw single-cycle waveforms so sample creation is stupid-easy.
The instrument editor can be seen as an Advanced Sample Editor. Here you can add envelopes (pitch, pan, volume, cutoff, freq), LFOs (2 I think), attack-decay-release, base note changing...
Before I get ahead of myself its important to point out that Renoise allows multiple instruments and/or samples to be loaded in each instrument slot. If you look at the main list of instruments, you should see under it a second almost identical list. If only one instrument is loaded it will be alone at the top of the list. To load more, click to select an empty slot, then load another just the same as loading the initial instrument. Then, back to the instrument editor...
Where you can assign each instrument in that rack to their own keys. That keyboard isnt just htere to test notes. I think that pressing 'generate drumkit' under the keys will automatically assign the contents of the rack to individual keys but since I dont use it often I cant say for sure. Once thats done you ought to have a drum-machine style set of percussion set to keys.
(*Personally I dont use that option as it limits the note values to the base sample note, whereas loading each to individual instruments in the MAIN instrument rack lets each have the full audible pitch range.)
OK now some tips about pattern editing...
First and foremost; its basically MS Excel, but music. Each column is a channel, each line a fraction of a beat (remember the LPB?). The hotkeys are THE SAME, ctrl v ctrl c etc. Drag/drop supported.
Heres where it gets less like Excel. Each channel, or as Renoise calls them, track, defaults to a single note column, a volume and pan data column (raw hex data entry just like the old trackers for those who want that level of control, I dont use it) and an effects column, looking like this
--- .. .. ---
Left to right; note, volume, pan, effects. The only one i use is the note column. There are quite a few hardwired effects, such as sample-start (check the demo tracks included), that require no DSP device, but do require data entry in the effect column. If interested, refer to included tutorials, renoise.com, and the Renoise forum where you can find a printable list of effect column parameters. I use DSPs, automation envelopes, and other external plugs, and haven't found use for effect column stuff.
Each track can have additional columns added, there is a +/- button under the track name, this adds or hides columns. If for example you accidentally hide a column with data, dont freak out cuz its still there, only hidden. This way you can have multiple note columns and such with the same effect chain.
More info coming in a second post as soon as Im done with it, starting....
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mudpeople
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Posted : May 14, 2011 10:50
Now.
Some basic info about pattern editing.
To enter a note-on, first select an instrument, then the column in whichever track you want the note to begin. The computer keyboard is by default a piano board broken in half with the 'q' defaulting to C5, '2' C#5, etc. Enter whichever note in the note column, you'll know you did it right when it says something liek this;
C-5OE .. .. ---
the note, octave, and instrument number in hex. Note on, COMPLETE.
Before you continue on to other notes, though, you ought to turn that note off. Renoise wont do that for you in step-time. The caps lock is the note-off key (in default key map), simply select the note-off position in the note column and press caps lock. It then will say 'off'. Entering a second note off after that, without another note-on value, will automatically delete the previous note-off.
It may sound like a pain at first, but trust me when I say that it soon enough becomes second nature. And also too, you will KNOW when you forget a note-off. Also dont forget that if you have a note overlapping 2 patterns, you need to remember to enter a note-off whenever you cut out that instrument, again, this will be obvious on first play-thru and second nature soon enough.
MOST IMPORTANT RENOISE ADVICE IS TO LEARN THE HOTKEYS AND SHORTCUTS. RENOISE CAN BE USED ENTIRELY WITHOUT A MOUSE. Ill list the shortcuts that I find to be most useful and make the whole interface so much more efficient than a mouse-centered one.
Basic windows ctrl-v, ctrl-c, ctrl-x, ctrl-z!!!!! and ctrl-y
*-f1, f2 transpose x by half steps up or down
*-f11, f12 transpose x by octave
x= pattern, *=ctrl
X=track, *=shift
x=column, *=ctrl + shift
x=selection, *=alt
ctrl+shift+alt+r =render selection to sample (defaults to first empty instrument)
f9 thru f12 jump to position in pattern, f9 to the beginning, f11 to halfway, and you get the idea, VERY handy when editing, make a 64-line pattern, press f10, hold shift, press home, copy, then go thru the 1/4s pressing paste and BAM, 8 bars. Ive gotten so that I can make a 2 bar an 8 bar in a couple seconds on a bad day.
ctrl+t makes new tracks, ctrl+shift+t deletes (if youre currently selecting a send track, it makes a new send rather than instrument track)
WHICH BRINGS ME TO RENOISE'S SENDS!!!! OMG!! Theyre stupid-easy too. Put a Send Device DSP device on the track you want to send. The Send Device interface is so obvious and easy to use I wont mention it. To send one source to multiple though, 'Keep Source' for all but the last Send device in teh chain. Pretty obvious, not like Reaper's sends, whew.... Long story. Anyway sends are fun with Renoise.
*Important note; when 'render each track to file' is selected from the render menu, the sends rather than the original source will be output, and if you send a send to other sends, the final send in the chain will be output alone.
**If you do what I do and mixdown stems in another project/DAW, DONT do what I DID and send all the synths to a single high-shelf send... Easy fix, just copy the effects from that send onto each individual synth's channel. Derp aherp moment, I know.**
An important note regarding copy and paste of devices; AUTOMATIONS DO NOT COPY ALONG WITH TEH DEVICE.
An important note regarding 'Render each track to file'; THE MASTER CHANNEL IS BYPASSED. Any master channel effects will also be bypassed. Again, easy fix, copy then paste onto each track individually. And remember to copy the automation too
Next post, last for tonight: Tips ! .
mudpeople
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Posted : May 14, 2011 11:16
TIPS!
___________________
Never pet a burning dog.
Renoise's native filter is AWESOME, the Butterworth 8-node option is if im not mistaken a -48db cutoff, which means laser-surgical bandpass/reject. Oh yeah, Renoise calls a notch a band-reject. LOVE the handy GUI on it.
Renoise's native EQ however is lacking accuracy, the 10 band not so much, but the 5 band, yeah. Lots of options in either, for frequency and bandwidth, also presets. I usually go for a parametric of some kind, the Electri-Q is a good one but tends to reset itself sometimes.
** Check out the Devices! **
Importantly, to automate any VSTi parameters, the VST Automation device is necessary, defaulting to 5 parameters but can be expanded, probably til the VST runs out of parameters (unlike SOME DAWs that allow ONLY 128 MAXIMUM, Ableton im looking at you). If one device alone cant display everything available to automate then more than one certainly can. Dropdown menu chooses parameters. Sometimes there are more parameters available to automate than the VST GUI displays, its always worth a look just in case.
The LFO Device lets any effect parameter that is displayable as Renoise native GUI can be modulated with the LFO Device. The options for LFO shape include the standards, plus a handy CUSTOM hand-drawn with user selected length. Nice. LFO an LFO if you want. Very handy thing, I recommend getting used to it.
Send Device I covered; sends to whichever send track you select. I didnt mention, though; it cant send to a previous send track, IE if youre sending from send 02, you cant send TO send 01 (you can however duplicate send 01 and drag the duplicate farther down the line), and send devices set to send to themselves will basically default themselves to off.
OK final tip for now; MAKING A KICK DRUM IN RENOISE USING ONLY NATIVE RESOURCES.
1. load a single-cycle sinewave, there are 3 if i remember included, only one is the bare smooth sine.
2.select the loaded 1-cycle
3.copy
4.press End to place teh cursor on the end
5.paste
6.repeat 4 and 5 til you have enough to work with
7.play the sample, it should just be a hum
8.go to instrument editor, select pitch envelope
9.put an envelope starting at the highest point (dont worry about tuning, you can do that later), ending where you feel it should end. Notice that the envelope isnt tall enough to accomodate as much octaves as youll need. Get it close enough.
10.Go to pattern editor, enter a C-4 note-on in a bare empty column.
11.Select the note and about a bar after it with the drag box, it will turn a nice color, default blue
12. render selection to sample, ctrl+shift+alt+r, now you have the pitch envelope hardwired
13. Go back to instrument editor, add another pitch envelope to your liking, then repeat step 12. This ought to get a kick that is at least decent enough in 2 or 3 bend-then-render-ings. I usually do a bit more after the pitch is good. Feel free too to make pitch bends upwards too. Play with it.
OPTIONAL
14. Go to Sample editor
15. select a couple cycles at teh start
16. click fade-in to make a smooth attack
17. select a good tail's worth of the end
18. click fade-out a couple times til your happy, adjust your selection to fade out less or more, play around. Renoise has INFINITE UNDO, never fear 19. sometimes Ill add fade-out and fade-ins a few ms after the initial note-on, play around, look at others' kicks for examples, have fun, go crazy
All for now, long live Renoise, I LOVE RENOISE .
PoM
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Posted : May 14, 2011 13:33
mudpeople
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Posted : May 15, 2011 08:38
Some more tidbits;
Renoise has Windows, Mac, AND Linux versions, and supports AU, DXi, and I think maybe even RTAS but I dont know for sure. Of course, DXi will probably only work in Windows (directx being proprietary software). Theres extensive threads on teh Renoise forum about using it on Linux, and step by step instructions on how to use native Windows vstis in Renoise (though as with most things linux its not easy compared to Windows)
Not only can Renoise be rewired, its possible to rewire multiple tracks in Renoise to multiple tracks in the rewire host DAW. I tried out using Renoise entirely for my live sequencing, rewired into Ableton, which in this context functions more as a loop-synch box than the main DAW. I dont know why I didn't go further with the idea, now Im curious...
OFF TO THE MICROKONTROL...
Now I got the idea that perhaps Live could be used SOLELY as a sync device, for perhaps multiple rewired Renoise, or Reaper and Renoise rewired... IDeas, ideas........
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mudpeople
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Posted : May 15, 2011 10:55
So I think Ive got a whole new approach to a Renoise-centric live...
CUZ RENOISE LETS ME USE THE PAD RACK OF THE MICROKONTROL. EASILY. I set a rack of 16 percussion samples to a drum kit which Renoise defaults to C4 and up keys, all I had to do was make a new controller scene with the pads as notes. And I STILL HAVE NO CLUE how to do that in Live.
So the only things I need Live for are dj tracks and loop sync. Going to see about xtal, maybe I can sync tracks in Renoise...
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mudpeople
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Posted : May 16, 2011 13:03
So, just one space btwn first and second, then 2 btwn 2nd and 3rd. Or, alternately sometimes I like to have more of a swingy feel by putting 2 spaces between the 1st and 2nd, 2 btwn the 2nd and 3rd, and only one btwn the 3rd and the first of the next triplet set.
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mudpeople
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Posted : May 26, 2011 07:01
so, been working on moving my live work as much as possible to Renoise, so far so good!!
Ive got a Renoise project set up wiiht synths, perc, and bottom end, rewired through various channels into Live, which is mainly not much more than a sequencer now, otehr than some nice perc loops and speech samples, and a dj channel.
Ive got 2 kick, 2 bass, and 2 perc tracks in the Renoise file, one active one muted, all mapped to toggles on the microKONTROL, so I can write in teh inactive ones. Nice nice very nice
Still figuring out what synths to use. So far got an ABL2 and various freeware virt-analogs. And xhip when its stable
This incarnation of my live is fully on the spot writing, no presequenced racks of basses or anyting. Kinda intimidating. Still working on it. I got too used to Live! Damn me!!
Oh yeah! Renoise has this handy function where you can rack a drum kit in a single instrument slot, then click a button and it automatically sets it to the 5th octave. Simple matter of assigning the pads of the KONTROL to those notes, and BAM. Drum pads for live drumming. TRY THAT ABLETON.
OH YEAH. Youre stuck in 2nd octave...
AND
STUCK WITH THE MOUSE
more and more I find Renoise's mouse-optional interface to be sooooo much faster than other DAWs. Live is a clunky old grandfather (my grandpa was german actually, Pennsylvania 'Dutch', but not really clunky) compared to it.
Once renoise can sync audio files, Live is dead.
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mudpeople
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Posted : Jul 2, 2011 12:32
Ive discovered something that I dont know how to do in Renoise!!!
I dont know how to route MIDI control VSTi's to instruments! Ive always used Live for this, its easy in Live, and never wanted to use such things in Renoise, except the other day I wanted to make a randomly-sequenced element in an ambient-ish track using the Ball Sequencer vsti...
Im still looking into it, havent given up, just moved onto other projects.
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TimeTraveller
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Posted : Oct 25, 2011 03:54
Nice thread! I have some questions to you.
Is it possible to build a group track? if yes how you do it?
(I don't mean to add a send in the renoise way) I want to route the track to another track (group track)via output.
How to change the design? I'd like to have other colours just for a nice climate Is there a nice way?
More questions will most probably follow Thanks in advance!
https://soundcloud.com/shivagarden
mudpeople
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Posted : Oct 27, 2011 05:32
In the Preferences menu under GUI there are themes as well as controls for the colors
I dont know about routing, grouping I think might be included in a future update. I cant figure out how to send audio from one track to another, maybe try the REnoise forums? http://www.renoise.com/board/ I do know that MIDI sending inside Renoise isnt possible (or at least not that Ive heard/not in my v2.5.1)
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TimeTraveller
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Posted : Oct 27, 2011 12:13
thank you. Yeah it would be really nice if they come up with group tracks in some future update. Makes the mixing process for me a lot faster amongst other useful possibilities.
I have really big fun with Renoise, espescially for breakbeats etc it's a killer on its own and absolutely different ways of producing than the others. Gonna post my first track here maybe , when I'm finished hehe
Yeah I found those boards , I find it quite interesting that scripting and developing of new things is so next to the actual playground. Gonna start to learn it for sure.
https://soundcloud.com/shivagarden
PoM
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Posted : Oct 27, 2011 14:37
i wish they make a au/vst version to load into other daw, that would be awesome, specially to program beat and use like a sampler (that imo is really realy great)i m gonna ask them what they think about it and if it could hapen in the futur
PoM
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Posted : Oct 27, 2011 14:45
cheking the renoise tools there is lot of intresting ones ,here grid pie demo
)
as soon as Im done with it, starting....
Is there a nice way?